Did Alexander II say: “Russia is not a trade and not agricultural, but a military, and its calling to be a thunderstorm of light”?

In the media, blogs and historical literature, a saying is often given about the calling of Russia, which is attributed to Emperor Alexander II. We decided to check the correctness of such an attribution.

Sometimes a quote is accompanied by an explanation that the phrase was printed in a geography textbook intended for cadet corps. But most often, the quote is found without any context. She mentions her in her book "The last king"Writer Edward Radzinsky and cite media in their publications, for example"Independent newspaper","Kommersant" And "Vedomosti", As well as bloggers on the platform"Zen"And in Livejournal. The phrase can also be found in numerous Online citizens.

The earliest mention of the quote attributed to Alexander II was found in the essay of Nikolai Leskov "Russian democrat in Poland"(1880). Leskov writes: "It was surprising to recall how people used to be particularly seriously inspired by" Russia is not trade and not agricultural, but his military, and his calling to be a thunderstorm of light. " There is no explanation whose quote is in the text.

Andrey Leskov, son of the writer, in the biographical book "The life of Nikolai Leskov"Clarifies:" I must say that even in the cadet corps personally packed by the king of geography "with special seriousness" explained to the students that "Russia is not trade and not agricultural, but his military, and the calling of the thunderstorm of the light". " However, the compilers of the publication issued in 1984 note that in the geography textbooks of the 1830–1850, “the given formula is absent”, and suggest that the phrase attributed to Alexander II took up oral stories. And in fact, in "Geography textbook of the Russian Empire", According to which they taught in the cadet corps during his reign, there is no such phrase. There is no quote in An earlier textbook the authorship of Konstantin Arsenyev, reprinted until the second half of the 19th century.

There is no phrases about the calling of Russia memories that time, neither in historical literaturededicated to the cadet corps. Therefore, we can assume that the quote attributed to Alexander II could be uttered by one of the teachers of the corps or to exist as an oral tradition. Then she appeared at Nikolai Leskov and was commented on by his son. Through the classic of Russian literature, the quote has become further widespread.

Photo on the cover: N. Lavrov. Portrait of Alexander II (Via Wikipedia Commons)

Most likely not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Did Alexander III say that Russia has only two allies - the army and the fleet?
2. Did Napoleon say: “The people who do not want to feed their army will soon feed someone else's”?
3. Did Peter I issue a decree that “the trade in the subsoil is an venerable thieves' case”?